Heart Like A Hand Grenade

[rootbeersoup]

I'm simply blown away by the lack of talent it would take to make a worse rockumentry about one of the defining albums of the Noughties than one about the Trilogy. That's just impressive.

Sounds like the perfect job for that cunt John Roecker

[Sarcasm]

I am underwhelmed, but it was fun to have seen it. What did everyone expect with 10 years or something of hype and waiting? 

[Liam]

Just managed to score myself a shirt and poster that John Roecker gave out at the after party. 

[Heather.]

I am underwhelmed, but it was fun to have seen it. What did everyone expect with 10 years or something of hype and waiting? 

It wasn't even 10 years of hype, it was 10 years of "this is going to be shit isn't it?" and yet here we all are  

 

I think the denial comes from the fact that even when we are colossally disappointed in Green Day, we're still usually entertained in some way.  Even if you didn't like the trilogy, it was INTERESTING to listen to.  This just disappoints on the most basic levels lol.

[Sarcasm]

It wasn't even 10 years of hype, it was 10 years of "this is going to be shit isn't it?" and yet here we all are  

 

I think the denial comes from the fact that even when we are colossally disappointed in Green Day, we're still usually entertained in some way.  Even if you didn't like the trilogy, it was INTERESTING to listen to.  This just disappoints on the most basic levels lol.

I got as much out of it as I used to get when I was 15 and looked at interviews on youtube with live shows in between. 

[Sanity Loan]

I can't get over how bad this is.

[WhiteTim]

The full concert songs just seem to be overkill we have seen multiple upon multiple concerts of them so to see them over studio footage can be repetitive 

[Alan86]

The live concert footage should not have appeared in the movie at anytime except maybe the first permmance of the song American idiot at the very end of the movie. The concert footage should have appeared only as bonus footage on the DVD. The movie itself should have contained a lot more in studio footage of the writing of these famous songs.

[Hermione]

I think he came on board after most of the writing was done though? He couldn't film stuff that happened before he was there.

[Sarcasm]

The full concert songs just seem to be overkill we have seen multiple upon multiple concerts of them so to see them over studio footage can be repetitive 

I think this was especially hurtful for the final product simply because most of us have heard the album hundreds of times, know all the lyrics and have just exhausted the awesome-juice from the content.

[Chin for a Day]

I am wondering if he used the concert excerpts because he really didn't have enough material for a full fledged documentary and needed filler.

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

Reading all the whiney comments on here convince me GDC members just want to bitch about everything. If this documentary had come out ten or eleven years ago when it was more relevant and there were less documentaries to compare it to (Cuatro and even BIAB) and YouTube wasn't flooded with ten year old footage from the AI tour that bored fans could interpret from memory into a ballet performance and Fuse hadn't aired part of it a decade or so ago I guarantee most of you would be shitting yourselves with pathetic excitement. 

[Hermione]

He's said he had 300 hours of footage. Maybe he had to make changes/add some more familiar stuff in order to get the green light for it being released? Or maybe when remaking it he just thought it'd be a good idea to add more of the finished music in? I dunno.

Reading all the whiney comments on here convince me GDC members just want to bitch about everything. If this documentary had come out ten or eleven years ago when it was more relevant and there were less documentaries to compare it to (Cuatro and even BIAB) and YouTube wasn't flooded with ten year old footage from the AI tour that bored fans could interpret from memory into a ballet performance and Fuse hadn't aired part of it a decade or so ago I guarantee most of you would be shitting yourselves with pathetic excitement. 

Disliking it and talking about why you dislike it is fair enough, it was never going to be for everyone and that's all a lot of people have done, but yeah the amount of whining is a bit of a shame especially when it's about things that were already known. After we heard what was in the film from the people who saw it in 2009 (ie the same stuff that's in it now) there was lots of excitement about it on here so it is kind of disappointing to see a load of nitpicking and higher expectations about the content being set instead of just enjoying finally getting to see some previously unseen fun and interesting footage of the band. Apparently focusing on the negative in everything is what people enjoy doing on GDC these days though, correct me if I'm wrong 

[DookieLukie]

I payed $14.99 for the film on vimeo. Honestly, I knew Roecker was sort of a pretentious hype machine, so I wasn't expecting anything amazing, but I thought it was alright. I would have like to see something more in depth on the writing and recording process, but Roecker didn't even start until they were already recording. I was a little disappointed, but in the end I got to see a few moments that I wouldn't have gotten to otherwise, and it was an entertaining watch. Maybe I just didn't expect as much as all of you did. But for 15 bucks I'm not too sore about it either way.

[Chin for a Day]

The truth is, this was simply a film.  Just like every other film on the planet, people have a right to their own opinion on it.  Stating their opinion does not make them whiny or imbeciles, it simply means they have an opinion.   

[Beerjeezus]

Green Day releases an album. 

GDC: meh 

Green Day releases a film. 

GDC: meh 

Green Day doesn't do anything. 

GDC: complains about lack of material to critically analyse

Other fans: get excited when something happens 

GDC: meh, fanboys

*GDC airs grievances about GDC being full of ungrateful imbeciles and finally blames Anders. 

[Hermione]

The truth is, this was simply a film.  Just like every other film on the planet, people have a right to their own opinion on it.  Stating their opinion does not make them whiny or imbeciles, it simply means they have an opinion.   

Yeah but when people who saw the film six years ago said it doesn't go into much detail about the writing/recording process and then people say "I was expecting it to go into more detail about the writing/recording process, I'm disappointed" that's kind of whining  

[Chin for a Day]

Yeah but when people who saw the film six years ago said it doesn't go into much detail about the writing/recording process and then people say "I was expecting it to go into more detail about the writing/recording process, I'm disappointed" that's kind of whining  

No, I disagree.  You are making the assumption that anyone that said they were disappointed by the film read the past reviews.  Plus, do we really need to tell someone they are whining because they said they were disappointed it didn't go into more detail?  Just because we had a heads up that we didn't doesn't mean it is any less disappointing.  Again, people are entitled to their opinion without being called imbeciles or whiners.

[Hermione]

No, I disagree.  You are making the assumption that anyone that said they were disappointed by the film read the past reviews.  Plus, do we really need to tell someone they are whining because they said they were disappointed it didn't go into more detail?  Just because we had a heads up that we didn't doesn't mean it is any less disappointing.  Again, people are entitled to their opinion without being called imbeciles or whiners.

Like I said in my previous post there's nothing wrong with disliking the film and saying so, and no one's an imbecile, it's just the level of nitpicking and negativity that's annoying. "It's GDC, of course people are complaining and unimpressed" didn't used to be something that was posted and agreed with, I don't really get why that's something people want to embrace now. There was a time when getting to see the hot tub scene alone would've pleased everyone , I think that's more enjoyable than being entirely negative that's all.

[WhiteTim]

I think it's fair to criticize a movie or anything entertainment should we say it's the best thing ever just because it's a Green Day item? 

 

John has spoke for years he had hours and hours of footage of course it's not his fault that the release has been delayed 11 years if it did came out in 2004 then the full live performances wouldn't be such a gripe as we wouldn't have seen hundreds of YouTube videos and BIAB and AAF video releases 

is it horrible? no

is it great? no

[Chin for a Day]

Like I said in my previous post there's nothing wrong with disliking the film and saying so, and no one's an imbecile, it's just the level of nitpicking and negativity that's annoying. "It's GDC, of course people are complaining and unimpressed" didn't used to be something that was posted and agreed with, I don't really get why that's something people want to embrace now. There was a time when getting to see the hot tub scene alone would've pleased everyone , I think that's more enjoyable than being entirely negative that's all.

Someone actually did call everyone that disliked the film an imbecile.  It's pages back, don't remember where.  

I think it's fair to criticize a movie or anything entertainment should we say it's the best thing ever just because it's a Green Day item? 

 

John has spoke for years he had hours and hours of footage of course it's not his fault that the release has been delayed 11 years if the did came out in 2004 then the full live performances wouldn't be a gripe as we wouldn't have seen hundreds of YouTube videos and BIAB and AAF video releases 

is it horrible? no

is it great? no

Agree 100%

[Guest]

Like I said in my previous post there's nothing wrong with disliking the film and saying so, and no one's an imbecile, it's just the level of nitpicking and negativity that's annoying. "It's GDC, of course people are complaining and unimpressed" didn't used to be something that was posted and agreed with, I don't really get why that's something people want to embrace now. There was a time when getting to see the hot tub scene alone would've pleased everyone , I think that's more enjoyable than being entirely negative that's all.

I'd put that down to a maturation in GDC's general usership, combined with Green Day coming out with a lot of shitty stuff in the past 3 years. Back in '09 or so, the average GDC member was in their mid-teens, and Green Day had just released the second of two critically acclaimed albums. Whereas now the average GDCer is in their early/mid-twenties, a bit more cynical, a bit more jaded. It's no surprise that after the Trilogy (which was Green Day's first undeniably crap release) that GDCers are going to be a bit less blindly lick-arsey over any Green Day related stuff now.

I mean, you're welcome to be positive about everything (and I know you will), but I think you're stuck in a more innocent time, when Green Day were on top of the world, and GDC was packed to the brim with teens incapable of giving a critical, unbiased analysis of anything Green Day related. GDC isn't particularly negative, it just has higher expectations after the Trilogy debacle. If Green Day actually ever put out anything good ever again I'll be at the front of the line saying it's good. But HLAHG is shit. And John Roecker's a cunt for making us think otherwise.

[sara_gd]

I'd put that down to a maturation in GDC's general usership, combined with Green Day coming out with a lot of shitty stuff in the past 3 years. Back in '09 or so, the average GDC member was in their mid-teens, and Green Day had just released the second of two critically acclaimed albums. Whereas now the average GDCer is in their early/mid-twenties, a bit more cynical, a bit more jaded. It's no surprise that after the Trilogy (which was Green Day's first undeniably crap release) that GDCers are going to be a bit less blindly lick-arsey over any Green Day related stuff now.

I mean, you're welcome to be positive about everything (and I know you will), but I think you're stuck in a more innocent time, when Green Day were on top of the world, and GDC was packed to the brim with teens incapable of giving a critical, unbiased analysis of anything Green Day related. GDC isn't particularly negative, it just has higher expectations after the Trilogy debacle. If Green Day actually ever put out anything good ever again I'll be at the front of the line saying it's good. But HLAHG is shit. And John Roecker's a cunt for making us think otherwise.

There's always been people saying something is awesome, an people saying is shit, and people that weren't "blindly lick-arsey" (all of them thinking the other people's opinion is wrong). But just not as much bitching as there is lately I think. 

[Alan86]

I think he came on board after most of the writing was done though? He couldn't film stuff that happened before he was there.

this maybe true but they would have certainly discussed lyrics/lyric changes and song structures during the actual recording. The dicussions in between parts being recorded would definitely been more interesting to watch.

[Hermione]

I'd put that down to a maturation in GDC's general usership, combined with Green Day coming out with a lot of shitty stuff in the past 3 years. Back in '09 or so, the average GDC member was in their mid-teens, and Green Day had just released the second of two critically acclaimed albums. Whereas now the average GDCer is in their early/mid-twenties, a bit more cynical, a bit more jaded. It's no surprise that after the Trilogy (which was Green Day's first undeniably crap release) that GDCers are going to be a bit less blindly lick-arsey over any Green Day related stuff now.

I mean, you're welcome to be positive about everything (and I know you will), but I think you're stuck in a more innocent time, when Green Day were on top of the world, and GDC was packed to the brim with teens incapable of giving a critical, unbiased analysis of anything Green Day related. GDC isn't particularly negative, it just has higher expectations after the Trilogy debacle. If Green Day actually ever put out anything good ever again I'll be at the front of the line saying it's good. But HLAHG is shit. And John Roecker's a cunt for making us think otherwise.

There's always been people saying something is awesome, an people saying is shit, and people that weren't "blindly lick-arsey" (all of them thinking the other people's opinion is wrong). But just not as much bitching as there is lately I think. 

This basically, there's always been a mix of opinions/positive and negative views (always been a mix of different age groups too, plenty of people in their 20s and 30s around then), but being negative/complaining being a GDC "thing" is new   

But I agree it's not just GDC and it's because the band haven't impressed people as much in general as well. I still don't think this film is anything different to what should've been expected (given that most of us were fully aware Roecker was overhyping it) though so I'd rather just enjoy it for what it is than lament what it could've been.

this maybe true but they would have certainly discussed lyrics/lyric changes and song structures during the actual recording. The dicussions in between parts being recorded would definitely been more interesting to watch.

I see, yeah it does seem a bit strange there wasn't more of that out of 300 hours of footage. Maybe it just wasn't filmed? Seems like something you'd expect to see a lot of if there was a lot of it available.